NC lost 2-3 in an away game against kt wiz in Game 5 of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League Playoff PO, best-of-five at kt Wiz Park in Suwon on the afternoon of the 5th. As a result, NC failed to advance to the Korean Series with two wins and three losses in all POs. 토토 He lost three consecutive games after posting two PO wins first for the third time ever.
Shin Min-hyuk was the starting pitcher of NC on the day. Peddy was originally expected to be the starting pitcher for Game 5. Peddy reigned as the KBO’s best pitcher this season, ranking first in multiple wins 20 wins, first in ERA 2.00, and first in strikeouts 209. He also achieved 200 wins and 200 strikeouts for the first time in 37 years after Sun Dong-yeol in the 1986 season.
In particular, Peddy won the first PO game with six innings and one run. He stole 12 strikeouts and rewrote the record for the most strikeouts in PO history. It was simply overwhelming ball power. It was a card that could greatly increase NC’s chances of winning if it only comes out in Game 5 of the PO.
However, Peddy failed to play as a starting pitcher in Game 5 of the PO. Coach Kang In-kwon confessed that Pedi’s physical condition has not yet fully recovered after Game 4. In the end, Shin Min-hyuk was the starting pitcher for Game 5, and Peddy stayed on the bench without playing as a bullpen pitcher.
NC led 2-0 until the top of the fifth inning in the game. However, Shin Min-hyuk shook and scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, and Ryu Jin-wook allowed one run in the bottom of the sixth inning, giving up the lead 2-3. Since then, he failed to overcome the one-point gap and lost. If Pedi’s pitch had been made in the fifth and sixth innings, the outcome could have been different. But Peddy couldn’t take the mound.
As the situation turned out, some insisted on Pedi’s “lack of labor.” It is argued that Peddy, who is likely to advance to the Major League in the 2024 season, did not take the mound in Game 5 to protect his body. If Peddy’s mind left the KBO League, it is also a convincing scenario.
However, Peddy shed tears as he left the stadium after the game. It was difficult to come out if you had left your mind from the KBO League and NC. It was tears of regret for losing the game and not being able to play.
In fact, Peddy has thrown the most innings of his career this year. Since his debut in the 2015 season, Peddy has been a player between bullpen and starter until the 2019 season, and in the 2020 season, he pitched only 50.1 innings in the aftermath of the shortened Major League season. In the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he played 138.1 innings and 131 innings in the major leagues and minor leagues, respectively. He was a pitcher who had never pitched more than 140 innings in his professional career. However, after joining the KBO League this year, he pitched 180.1 innings in the regular league alone.
Peddy, who threw a lot, complained of fatigue in his shoulder at the end of the regular season. After taking a nine-day break after the match against the Hanwha Eagles on October 1, he played against Hanwha on October 10 because of shoulder fatigue. To make matters worse, Pedi suffered a bruise on his right arm in the match against KIA on the 16th after Ko Jong-wook’s assault hit. It wasn’t a big injury, but it was a sensitive injury because it was a throwing arm.
Nevertheless, Peddy took a break on the 13th and took the mound as a starter in the first round of PO. If he was going to take a break, he didn’t have to come out of the game, but Peddy showed up. Of course, Peddy didn’t appear in Game 5 even though he took the usual five-day break afterwards. However, it is not convincing to accept Pedi’s physical condition, which was thrown much more than usual and even hit a rough pitch, as usual. This is why the theory of tae-up cannot be supported.
Peddy, the best pitcher in the KBO League for the 2023 season. It was regrettable that he failed to take the mound in the last game of NC. There was even a rumor of a lack of business. However, there is no specific basis to support the theory of tae-up. Just because you want to take the mound doesn’t necessarily mean you can stand on the mound. The body must follow. Rather, Peddy showed tears and showed his sincerity to KBO League and NC fans until the end.